Here you can follow our sailing from Sweden to the Mediterranian.We have a new yacht s/y Carpe Diem, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40. Of practical reasons we are still using the homepage of our previous yacht s/y Xavita.

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When leaving
Bermuda we are once more asked by Bermuda Radio about our next
landfall and when arriving there. Quite many ships are seen on this
leg. The route from The Panama Canal to Western Europe passes here.
In between the aircrafts condense lines in the sky are the only signs
of human presence.

The weather guru
Chris advises us to go straight to the Azores to avoid the gales in
the north. There is a great risk of being becalmed, as will happen to
us. The north route is recommended by the pilot books but with
greater risk of strong winds. During the first days cold fronts are
coming from the east coast of US with windshifts and of varying
strengths. Sometimes we have full set of sails, sometimes three
reefs. The wind vane steers our yacht while we have an easy life.

Later we have 5
days with winds from the northern quadrant and sometimes wind on the
bow. We also download weatherfaxes with wind forecasts via the
shortwave radio. Beside the waves created by the wind there is always
an underlaying swell with long gentle waves from some distant windy
area. This swell could come from different directions and sometimes
be directly against the windwaves and create a choppy sea. Sea
temperature is only 17 degrees.

It is fascinating
to study the charts. Here the sea bottom is like an enormous plain
5200 meters down. But here and there conical 3000 meters high summits
rise up from the sea floor. Volcanos

on the sea floor!
The last week we find ourselves in a high pressure ridge, which parks
in our area. We calculate our range due to our diesel supplies.
Having an extra 140 litres in jerry cans on deck. going half speed in
the calms not to end up in a situation with empty fuel tanks, no food
and no fresh water. That has happened even to experienced sailors.
Later we learned that a yacht with its crew was lost in May underway
from The Caribbean to The Azores.

After 17 days
Flores rises over the horizon. Flores is the most western among the
nine islands in The Azores and consequently the most western point of
Europe. We enter Porto Lajes and the diminutive marina protected by
double large breakwaters.

The Azores lie at
the joint of the Eurasian and American continental plates. The
islands are created by lava flowing up from the deep of the earth.
Due to the flow the continental plates are still gliding apart. The
distance between Europe and America increases annually by 5 mm.

The Azores have
been part of Portugal since discovered in the beginning of the 15th
century, with the exception of a part of the 17th century
when they were Spanish. Both our friend Columbus and Vasco da Gama
have visited the islands during their expeditions. Of course
Englishmen have been here trying to conquer the islands but without
success. The islands had an important role in World War II with
American air bases and British naval bases.

We make a tour by
rental car around the small mountanious island, only 18 km long. The
island is adorned with flowers everywhere. The roads are surrounded
by blue Hortensia, so are the stone walls. The rain gives a lush
greenery to the island. It is easy to understand why it is called
Flores, the island of flowers. Unfortunately the clouds are very low
during our tour and we cannot sea the famous crater lakes. The clouds
hide everything. Being back in Europe is also evident by the bird
life such as chaffinch, black bird and tern.

We have now arrived in The
Azores after 17 days of sailing. That will come in the next letter.
This letter describes the trip Florida - Bermuda.

The sail trip from Florida
to Bermuda is a long one. First on a calm sea with a push of 3 knots
from the Golf Stream, later varied light and brisk winds from
different directions. When leaving the Golf Stream we even have 2
knots of current against us during a whole day. We turn up in a high
pressure and our wind guru Chris directs us northwards and southwards
to catch wind. Previous years Herb gave weather info on the shortwave
radio, but he has retired, so now Chris is in charge.

Are we in the Sargasso
Sea? Much alga floating in the
water and quite many plastic bags are trapped in the alga. The
currents are circulating in the Sargasso Sea why alga and trash are
staying here.

A
wildlife drama takes place in front of our eyes. A beautiful white
tern with long tail feathers (White-tailed Tropicbird) suddenly pops
up. It is far away from its habitat and needs rest. Circulating
around our yacht and trying to land on the masthead. The yacht is
rolling and the mast is swinging and also the radio antenna stops the
bird. After several tries it aims instead for the radar pole on aft
deck. Sadly the tip of his wing is caught by the wind turbine next to
the radar pole. The poor bird disappears to an unknown destiny.

We
have daily radio contact with a Dutch yacht on a parallel course. We
are out of sight but have social contact and exchange information.
Now the long pants are used during chilly night watches when the
temperature goes down to 20 degrees C. The water temperature is also
down several degrees outside the Golf Stream.

Soon
the Bermuda Radio is on the VHF. They are calling all vessels in the
neighbourhood. When the Bermuda lighthouse
turns up in the middle
of the night we are also
called and give info about Xavita and our arrival time. We are also
questioned about our safety equipment. An excellent radio station
giving good service to all vessels around the clock.

There
is some electrical trouble on board. Secondshort power brakedowns
shut down all instruments and the auto pilot. Very irritating,
specially in night time. We are in the infamous Bermuda Triangle!
Suspect the battery charger, inverter, fridge, auto pilot. Is it
possible that any of these sends out a "spike" in the
cabling that shuts down everything? Later we find out that it is just
a loose cable.

Entering
the narrow passage to St George's Bay after 10 days. It is clearly
visible that this is an English colony. Beautiful well managed houses
along the waterfront. All have white roofs (!) and in the same shape.
Obviously there is a powerful town planning authority. St George's is
a copy of an English small town with its two floor houses along
narrow streets and pubs in every corner.

Anchoring
in the bay after clearance. The pilot cutter goes around among the
yachts at anchor. Strange! It is steering right upon us and stops
just some few meters away. What do they want, we have already made
the clearance! Then we see a priest in his flapping black coat on
fore deck and altar boys dressed in white. He lifts his crucifix and
blesses Xavita and its crew!!! We have arrived at the yearly Blessing
Day when all vessels are blessed. That could be fine for the Atlantic
crossing.

Bermuda
consists of several low long islands. There is a large reef on the
west side that surrounds a large bay. Bermuda has always been
British, an important bunker station in the 17- 19th
centuries underway to the British settlements in the Caribbean.
Several forts on the islands gave protection against Spaniards and
pirates. The capital Hamilton lies on one of the southern islands and
is reached by a tortuous fairway over the bay.

Preparing
for the second challenge, the Atlantic crossing to Europe.

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The outclearance from Cuba is a quick
business. At the quay is also a motorboat with an elevated flybridge
for high sea fishing and equiped with a small Swedish flag. It shows
up to be Bingo, his local knickname, from Sweden living in Cuba and
mostly fishing, his great interest.

The Gulf Stream gives us such a push
that we arrive earlier than calculated at the coast outside Key West.
The latter part is a tiresome close reach against the waves. Only 150
kilometers separate these two totally different countries. Cuba with
low standard and shortage of most supplies and Florida with giant
surplus of everything. An extraordinary example of the extremes of
plan economy and market economy. As the long channel to Key
West is well lit with leading lines and buoys we enter in the dark
and anchor among other yachts outside Historic
Seaport.

The
following morning we lie in the opposite direction as when we
anchored. Strong tidal currents turn around Xavita four times every
day. Many yachts lie at anchor far out in the bay, many of them seem
to be unmanned. Our dinghy takes us to the marina and a further taxi
ride to the customs at the airport. The door is locked and we have to
call a special telephone number to have an armed officer to come and
open the door and do the clearance. To avoid problems we say we have
arrived directly from Mexico, as Cuba is under embargo and other
sailors have had problems at arrival in the US. No more questions and
we get the stamps.

The
Coast Guard base next to our anchorage is decorated with flags as a
new ship is inagurated. They have really big ships all armed with
cannons and some with helicopters. Also the RIBs chasing dinghies
without lights in the evenings have machine guns in the bow. If you
have made enemies out in the big world, you better protect yourself
against terrorist attacs. A beautiful trumpet solo is heard from the
base at sunset.

Key
West has many old beatiful double floor wooden houses. We enjoy
seeing all in good shape.

A
nice contrast to Cuba. While waiting for fair winds we are
provisioning in the well sorted supermarkets, eating tasty hamburgers
and making the laundry. Every now and then a tour boat passes our
anchorage overloaded with tourists and with loud music. If you have
lot of money you charter a motor cruiser with a band onboard and go
around for some hours with your friends while sipping drinks.

Finally
the continuous easterly wind decreases and we motor the whole way to
Miami outside all keys with a tiresome sea on the nose and lightning
in the night sky. Also to Miami we arrive too early due to the
current. Waiting for some cruise ships to pass before entering in the
first morning light. High rise buildings pop up as mushrooms on both
sides of the channel. Suddenly there is a RIB with flashing blue
light at our side. Coast Guard stops us from passing the quay where
the cruise ships are moored. We have to turn around and go back and
pass through the container harbour. We could be terrorists underway
to hijack a cruise ship.

Some
years earlier our sailing friends Bosse and Helene from Gothenburg
have arrived here with their yacht “seaQwest” and settled down in
Miami. The AIS shows that they are at anchor south of Miami and we
sneak up and give them an early surprise in the morning. We have a
warm reunion after several years. Together we go northwards in the
shallow and narrow Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) straight through
Miami. Bridges are opened underway to their house on one of the
islands in Miami and we let the anchor go in front of their terrace.

A
week follows with nice time together, with tasty dinners made by the
barbeque king Bosse and visit to a cosy restaurant. Helene takes us
around for provisioning and to outlets. We prepare Xavita for the
coming Atlantic crossing and enjoy their hospitality.

When
most of the weather forecasts agree of a suitable departure date for
Bermuda, we go along ICW northwards between beautiful one family
houses at the seafront and fantastic high rise buildings. ICW is a
protected waterway just inside the sandbanks along the coast from
Miami all the way up to Chesapeake Bay at Washington DC. We follow it
during 4 hours to Fort Lauderdale where we go out into the ocean and
take a course to Bermuda.